Showing papers in "New Horizons in English Studies in 2022"
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors explored learners' perceptions of the supervision process and found that supervisees perceive supervision as a process on which the supervisor is responsible at all levels, they expect him to prescribe what do to, to be knowledgeable and to take full authority.
Abstract: Supervision is defined as intensive, interpersonally focused one-to-one relationship between the supervisor and the supervisee. This study addresses supervision at the level of Master as a process that is influenced by many factors, namely supervisees’ perceptions. It aims at exploring learners’ perceptions of the supervision process. The study uses the descriptive survey design to explore the perceptions of supervisees towards supervision process. The sample is made of 50 master students in the section of English Language at Ibn Khaldoun University of Tiaret, 25 of them are specialized in Didactics and 25 are specialized in Linguistics. The number of males and females respondents is also equal, 25 for each. A questionnaire is constructed to collect data; it is composed of 30 statements which are divided into three sections. The findings reveal that the supervisees perceive of supervision as a process on which the supervisor is responsible at all levels, they expect him to prescribe what do to, to be knowledgeable and to take full authority.
TL;DR: The authors investigates the political potential of critical news platform The Intercept 's special feature audio play Evening at the Talk House (2018) by analyzing its content, form, and funding model.
Abstract: Podcasting is an increasingly popular audio-only, on-demand narrative form that draws millions of listeners, both within the U.S. and worldwide. While podcast scholars are excited about podcasts’ potential to create content that finds no place in the mainstream media, they have not yet investigated how contemporary fictional podcasts can create societal critiques. This paper investigates the political potential of critical news platform The Intercept ’s special feature audio play Evening at the Talk House (2018) by analyzing its content, form, and funding model. I will argue that Evening at the Talk House effectively uses the affordances of both the podcast and the dystopian narrative mode to expose the U.S. empire for American citizens by collapsing the distinction between the ‘good’ and safe homeland and the evil ‘other’ abroad. Evening at the Talk House, thus, raises questions about the complicity of regular citizens in enabling ‘murder programs’ (e.g. drone strikes, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) as citizens actively take part in and become the victims of imperial violence. However, consistent with The Intercept ’s daily reporting, Talk House fails to address a major motivation of the U.S. empire: establishing and maintaining global capitalism. This neglect can be explained by considering how the platform was established, as tech billionaire Pierre Omidyar provided its funding.
TL;DR: Zoo as discussed by the authors explores the American television series Zoo (CBS, 2015-2017) and argues that the biotechnological control of life, which takes center stage narratively, is mirrored in the use of digital visual effects to create animals.
Abstract: This article explores the American television series Zoo (CBS, 2015–2017). The show’s convoluted narrative revolves around mutations that are put into motion by genetic engineering. These mutations first affect animals and later humans The article argues that the biotechnological control of life, which takes center stage narratively, is mirrored in the television show’s use of digital visual effects to create animals. More importantly, Zoo suggests that this control of life is nothing but an illusion, as the mutation quickly gets out of hand and leads to unexpected consequences. Thus, the television series reflects the Anthropocene condition, which is characterized by the emergence of humankind as a planetary force; however, the planetary effects of anthropogenic activities have been largely unwanted. While Zoo seems to expose these processes of our age, the article also stresses that as a television show, Zoo must reach a broad audience. Thus, the critique of human fantasies of planetary control are, somewhat paradoxically, accompanied by an anthropocentrism which arguably undermines the show’s ecological subtexts.
TL;DR: In this article , the authors explored the relationship between the choice of teaching methods, approaches and techniques to students with diagnosed Asperger's syndrome and the learners' knowledge gains in the selected aspects of the English language.
Abstract: . Nowadays, the number of children suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorders, especially those with diagnosed Asperger’s syndrome, is increasing steadily. Undoubtedly, this psychological disorder is one of the most complex and difficult to understand and deal with. Despite the fact that a lot of studies have been done so far, this phenomenon is not fully understood and further research should be done. The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between the choice of teaching methods, approaches and techniques to students with diagnosed Asperger’s syndrome and the learners’ knowledge gains in the selected aspects of the English language. It was hypothesized that if modifications in the process of teaching English are made with reference to the specificity of As - perger’s syndrome disorder, children with diagnosed AS will learn English faster. The findings of the study showed that the introduction of proper techniques and the adaptation of learning process to AS students’ preferences help them to achieve better results and gain more knowledge easily.
TL;DR: This paper explored how the mid-Victorian revisions of the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone serve as a tool of recognition of the challenges that marriage may pose for feminine ties.
Abstract: The Greek myth about Persephone remains a powerful narrative of mother-daughter symbiosis and their connection functions as one of the fundamental themes in the literature of the nineteenth century. Few researchers have addressed the problem of representing Persephone in Victorian poetry, focusing on the importance of myth in cultural criticism and the intersection of feminism and revisionism. The following article explores how the mid-Victorian revisions of Persephone serve as a tool of recognition of the challenges that marriage may pose for feminine ties. I specifically concentrate on two poems by the English poet Dora Greenwell – “Demeter and Cora” and “The Garden of Proserpine” – published in 1869. Taking into account psychological studies on familial bonds as well as the psychoanalytic and archetypical reading of the mother-daughter interactions, I offer a detailed investigation of Greenwell’s works that discuss “the fluctuations of symbiosis and separation” (Hirsch 1989, 20). Greenwell reworks the myth of Demeter and Persephone to reflect upon the ever-changing relationship between mothers and daughters as well as to investigate the moment of individual maturation of a married daughter.
TL;DR: The Beekeeper of Aleppo (2018) as mentioned in this paper is a novel written by Lefteri, which is based on her volunteering experience in a UNICEF-supported refugee centre in Greece during the European migrant crisis, which started around 2014 and has been continuing since then.
Abstract: Christy Lefteri was born in 1980 in London. Years later, her volunteering experience in a UNICEF-supported refugee centre in Greece during the European migrant crisis, which started around 2014 and has been continuing since then, became the basis for The Beekeeper of Aleppo (2018; the edition of 2019 is used here). In the novel, Lefteri reflects on migrant experience through fictitious characters and their personal traumas. Thus, this article aims to discuss how the author represents her characters’ traumatic experiences. These traumas start before their moving away from the city of Aleppo (Syria), which suffers from a crisis caused by a civil war, and continue haunting them throughout their journey to Turkey, the Greek islands, Greece, and the UK and result in an identity and relationship crisis. In addition, the migration process itself is not smooth and adds more weight to their earlier experienced traumas. Nuri and his wife Afra, the main characters of the novel, are traumatised mostly psychologically, but their traumas manifest themselves physically. Even though these characters do create coping mechanisms, they never verbalise their traumas until they reach their destination, which is the UK, and thus suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder for quite some time. Only when Nuri and his wife start speaking about their experiences and symptoms, the process of overcoming their traumas starts. The analysis of the novel is carried out within the framework of the Literary Trauma Theory. Some of the key issues of the theory, which are relevant to the discussion, include inability to speak about traumatic experience, post-traumatic symptoms, and belatedly experienced trauma.
TL;DR: The authors argue that darkly pessimistic narratives give ritual expression to the rage, regret, and resignation prompted by a perceived or real irreparable rupture of the social order in the United States.
Abstract: In our media-saturated society popular culture assumes a quasi-religious function, offering mythic narratives and associated mediated rituals that provide audiences with equipment for living. The United States has developed its own distinctive mythos, termed the American monomyth , which celebrates the restoration and perpetuation of social order through heroic means. This optimistic mythic narrative formula shapes storylines within a wide range of genres, such as film noir, sci-fi, and Westerns. In this study, the authors note the surging popularity of a distinctively different mythic formula: post-apocalyptic narratives. It is argued that these darkly pessimistic narratives give ritual expression to the rage, regret, and resignation prompted by a perceived or real irreparable rupture of the social order. The authors offer illustrative examples of post-apocalyptic storylines in books, films, televisions, and other media; identify some of the contemporary socio-cultural concerns addressed by these stories; and suggest that post-apocalyptic narratives pose a potential challenge to the perennial dominance of the traditional American monomyth by joining – although not displacing or replacing – it as a fixture American popular culture.
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors analyzed three movies on the popular streaming service, Netflix: Then Came You (2019), Irreplaceable You (2018) and Her Only Choice (2018), which all belong to the comedy/drama genre.
Abstract: Cancer is a common cause of death in the United States. With such prevalence, it is not surprising that the cancer experience is the focus of many films over the years. Cancer is depicted both in mainstream feature films as well as other venues of viewership including online platforms (i.e. Netflix). Little research has explored the representation of the cancer experience in these mediums. This paper seeks to conceptualize trends in depicting the cancer experience from available films on the popular streaming service, Netflix, via textual analysis. Three films that we analyzed are, Then Came You (2019), Irreplaceable You (2018), and Her Only Choice (2018), which all belong to the comedy/drama genre. Three themes emerged including stigmatized sympathy and disgust, caretaking and domesticity, and cancer mantras of “live like you are dying” versus “fight to live.” While these types of films may bring awareness or hope to a prevalent health condition, the problem of romanticizing cancer remains.
TL;DR: In this article , the authors analyse British home décor to analyse its distinct features from the perspective of a specific national identity and examine the impact of the upper class' taste dictating the norms for the rest of society despite having a different cultural capital.
Abstract: This paper looks at British home décor to analyse its distinct features from the perspective of a specific national identity. It also examines the impact of the upper class’ taste dictating the norms for the rest of society despite having a different cultural capital. The BBC programme, The Great Interior Design Challenge, is examined as a good example of the British tendency to seek advice from authorities in a field who are the arbiters of taste. The specific competitive scheme and aim of this TV programme present a telling body of information to examine which features are favoured among the winners and which are condemned in failed projects. As a result, the programme captures and reflects the preferred national British taste. The concepts and prescriptions of cultural capital as well as media and authorities as the source of taste are visible in this society. The members of the lower social classes, being instructed by the professionals, strive to follow the upper-class’ taste. However, their choices are determined by the education they received and people by whom they are surrounded. The upper classes are more accustomed to art due to their families’ art collections and art education, so their taste is more sophisticated and informed. Moreover, the study of the programme pays attention to the presence of certain distinctive national features of British society visible in its home décor.
TL;DR: In this article , the authors examine Paul Auster's metafictional novel Man in the Dark in reference to the represented reality and imaginary spaces which play a crucial role in the development of the action.
Abstract: The primary aim of the article is to examine Paul Auster’s metafictional novel – Man in the Dark – in reference to the represented reality and imaginary spaces which play a crucial role in the development of the action. I will be focusing on the diverse levels of the spatio-temporal dimensions of the novel – the primary story and the embedded one – and their mutual relations and interactions. While discussing Man in the Dark , I shall explore the ways in which particular chronotopes affect individuals immersed in them. I will also prove that the text’s dominant story, recounted by the protagonist, August Brill, transgresses the spatial and temporal borders of the main character’s world, and, consequently, becomes completely separated from what is quotidian, known, and experienceable for him.The created worlds shall be analysed in reference to Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope.
TL;DR: The role of memory in Jacob's Ladder (1990) as mentioned in this paper is argued to be crucial in the formation of cultural memories about the war through a critique of the "veteranness" of the 'grunts' war' films of the late 1980s that sought to extend the experience of the Vietnam War to the viewer cinematically as a form of recovered memory.
Abstract: In this article I examine the role of memory in Jacob’s Ladder (1990), and I argue that Jacob’s Ladder takes as its subject cultural memories of the war and dramatizes the problematic status of cinematic representations of the past as public memory. This is evident in the way in which the film draws on the viewer’s generic memory through the remediation of the iconography of contemporary Vietnam War films such as Platoon (1986), Hamburger Hill (1987), Casualties of War (1989), and Born on the Fourth of July (1989) but refuses the narrativization of the soldiers’ experience through the use of a modular narrative form. I argue that Jacob’s Ladder inhibits the formation of cultural memories about the war through a critique of the ‘veteranness’ of the ‘grunts’ war’ films of the late-1980s that sought to extend the experience of the Vietnam War to the viewer cinematically as a form of recovered memory. I also examine the ways in which Jacob’s Ladder represents the scenes of reminiscence as being both therapeutic and traumatic and discuss how the film presents an alternative path to coming to terms with the past through conscious acts of remembering and forgetting.
TL;DR: The authors explore how a self-effacing girlhood beset by naïve bad faith can try to transform itself through a characteristically post-modernist disassembly of language into a new and more authentic language of the self.
Abstract: Whilst scholarship about postmodernist American literature has tended to focus on the entanglements of power, language, identity, and history, few have noted the important role played by children and child culture. Reading Rikki Ducornet’s The Stain and Kathy Acker’s Blood and Guts in High School through the lens of literary child studies can usefully demonstrate the ways in which postmodernist literature relies on depictions of childhood to interrogate language and culture acquisition, analogised in terms of parental, pedagogical and institutional control. Ducornet and Acker’s novels, in particular, use a young girl’s voice—to borrow a phrase from Acker, a kind of ‘child-drag’—to explore themes of control and female sexuality, and to demonstrate the broader difficulty of achieving some “authentic” identity, when “identity” is so often viewed as violence submitted from without. In conjunction with poststructuralist and feminist theories of identity-making, this essay will explore how both Ducornet and Acker use the form of the bildungsroman to explore how a self-effacing girlhood beset by naïve bad faith can try to transform itself—through a characteristically postmodernist disassembly of language—into a new and more authentic language of the self.